Barn Owl
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Tyto alba (Scopoli, 1769) |
||||||||||||||
 Global distribution of Tyto alba
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
Strix alba Scopoli, 1769 |
The Barn Owl (Tyto alba) or, to distinguish it from relatives, Common Barn Owl, is an owl in the barn owl family Tytonidae. This is one of the two groups of owls, the other being the typical owls Strigidae. (Any member of the family Tytonidae is sometimes referred to as a Barn Owl.)
These are pale, long-winged, long-legged owls, 33–39 cm in length with an 80–95 cm wingspan. They have an effortless wavering flight as they quarter pastures or similar hunting grounds.
There are a number of subspecies differing in underpart colour. For example, T. a. alba of western Europe is almost pure white below, but T. a. guttata of central Europe is orange. The Australian, Melanesian and Pacific forms may constitute a separate species, the Eastern Barn Owl, T. (alba) delicatula. All races have grey and ochre upperparts.
These are birds of open country such as farmland, preferentially hunting along the edges of woods. They are fairly sedentary and nocturnal or crepuscular.
Barn Owls occur worldwide, on every continent except Antarctica. Sometimes they are called monkey-faced owls because of their appearance. Other common names are church owl, golden owl, rat owl, and stone owl.
Barn Owls feed on voles, frogs, insects, and small birds but are economically valuable birds as they also prey on animal pests like rats, shrews, moles and mice.
Other than human persecution, they have few predators, although large owls such as the Eurasian Eagle Owl and the Great Horned Owl will kill smaller species if the opportunity arises. Farmers often encourage Barn Owl habitations for rodent control by providing nest sites such as a wooden nest box or a large drum installed sideways in a barn. An adult Barn Owl will eat approximately 3 mice per day. A pair raising 3-5 owlets will consume many more rodents.
Barn Owls have a notable shreee scream, ear-shattering at close range. They also hiss like snakes. When captured or cornered, they throw themselves on their backs and flail with sharp-taloned feet, an effective defence. Contrary to popular belief, they do not make the call "tu-whit to-whoo".
[edit] References
- Bachynski, K. & Harris, M. (2002): Animal Diversity Web: Tyto alba (barn owl). Retrieved 2006-9-21.
- Bruce, M. D. (1999): Family Tytonidae (Barn-owls). In: del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. (eds): Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 5: Barn-owls to Hummingbirds: 34-75, plates 1-3. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-25-3
- Day, Charles (2001): Researchers uncover the neural details of how Barn Owls locate sound sources. Phys. Today 54(6): 20-22. HTML fulltext
- Tipling, David (1995): How now, barn owl. New Sci. 145(1960): 43-. HTML abstract
- Taylor, Iain (1994): Barn Owls: Predator-Prey Relationships and Conservation. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-39290-X
[edit] External links
- BrainMaps: Tyto alba (barn owl) brain
- Barn Owl videos at the Internet Bird Collection website
- Barn Owl - Tyto alba - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
- Barn Owl Species Account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Barn Owl Information - South Dakota Birds
- BTO - BOMP - BTO Barn Owl Monitoring Project (BOMP)
- Suffolk Community Barn Owl Project - Suffolk Community Barn Owl Project
